Creamy Orzo with Chicken, Mushrooms and Red Peppers

If you are on your A-game and ready to boogy around the kitchen like it is nobody’s business then this meal can be made in less than 20 minutes. For the rest of us slackers, it is probably more like a 27-minute meal. But I’ll take that any night of the week.

Creamy and healthful (thanks to the cream cheese instead of the heavy cream!), this pasta dish is filled with delicious gifts of goodness like flavorful mushrooms, sweet red pepper, tender chicken and the entire skillet is brightened up with fresh parsley and lemon juice. A hit, all the way from my finicky 1-year old to my finicky 33-year old (who shall remain nameless).

Note: this pasta is best served immediately as it tends to get less creamy as it sits at room temperature – so serve warm right as it finishes cooking! (Incidentally, it heated up just fine the next day in the microwave on low power.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to package directions until tender. When the orzo is ready, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water (ladling it into a small bowl is my method) and then drain the orzo and set aside.

While the orzo cooks, in a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot oil and brown on all sides. When nicely browned (but not all the way cooked through), add the peppers, mushrooms and thyme. Stir and let cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms and peppers have softened and browned and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In the skillet over medium heat, add the softened cream cheese (if you forgot to let the cream cheese soften at room temperature, no worries! Pop it in the microwave for one minute on 40% power) in bite sized chunks and stir so that the cream cheese melts and coats the chicken and vegetables. Add the reserved pasta water and bring to a simmer. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Stir. Add the orzo, Parmesan, lemon juice and fresh parsley. Stir to combine and heat through. Garnish with additional Parmesan and parsley.

Looks so yummy. I love quick cook dinners. We’ll be making this sometime this week for sure.

If it does have to sit a little longer you can reserve a little more pasta water to loosen up the sauce and make held over dinners just as creamy. And reheated leftovers will be creamier if you add a .5-1 tsp of water before reheating in the micro.

Loved the recipe! I finally got around to making it and it was amazing! My whole family devoured it. But we thought the name was a little, well, boring. Sorry about that. So instead of just a list of ingreds. we came up with “funkadilly orzo and chicken”. We used the word funkadilly to describe the smoothness from the cream cheese and the zing from the lemon juice. This new title may not be for everyone, but we think it’s a perfect name for a perfect recipe!

Hi Mel…So we just finished this for dinner, and thought I’d report. I used rotisserie chicken that I needed to use up, and instead of peppers (didn’t have any on hand) I cut up asparagus and just sauteed it right along with the mushrooms and garlic. They were perfectly crisp-tender. The flavor of this dish was sooooo tasty. My only complaint was the amount of sauce. I wanted more. You were right about the dish getting less creamy if not served right away. It seemed like within minutes it was dry—so I ended up going back and making more sauce. Next time I will either add half the amount of orzo, or double the saucy goodness. Every person in my family ate this including the pickiest 3 year old in history (who subsists on air and pirates booty) and my 8 month old! This served with a caprese salad was pretty much perfection. Thanks for another excellent recipe.

Reyna – oh my, yummy! Your changes sound incredible and I’m glad you were able to tailor it to your liking with the extra sauce, etc. I love the addition of asparagus – how perfect! I’m glad your three year old was able to break out of his pirate booty diet and enjoy it!

This recipe was awesome! We are not big mushroom lovers so we substituted them for some fresh asparagus from the garden. I only had half the amount of cream cheese so I added 1/4 cup of milk and it worked out very well. Thanks for these great recipes. Keep them coming!!!

Yum!! Just made this tonight. DH asked whats for dinner and I told him something from Mel’s Kitchen, and he was excited as he knew what that meant – it would be yummy! Your blog has become a regular go-to for yummy quick dinners and we make a number of your recipes throughout the month.
Promise you won’t stop blogging…. 😉

This was AWESOME!!! I did tweak it for my taste just slightly because I dont eat fungus so I subbed in asparagus instead. I loved it so much and I had tons of leftovers for several lunches. This is going in my family favorite file.

Juliann – sorry, I had to chuckle at the “I don’t eat fungus” comment. I guess if you put it that way, mushrooms aren’t quite as appealing by the fungus name. I’m glad this orzo dish worked out with asparagus, sounds quite tasty, actually!

I just made this for dinner tonight and my husband and I loved it!! I added fresh spinach to it before adding the cream cheese. I love spinach and add it anywhere I can. It turned out really well and I thought others might like the suggestion. This was my first Mel’s Kitchen recipe and I’m so excited to try more now! I LOVE to cook and the recipes on this site look amazing!

We had this last night and it was creamy, tasty, and oh so easy!! I had never used orzo before and now will make it again and again. This recipe was awesome. I did leave out the mushrooms, we aren’t big fans, and will have to try subbing them with asparagus next time-this was my husbands suggestion and I see others thought the same- so we will give it a try. Thanks again for making dinner time so easy and delicious!

Hey Mel…since this is the 50th time I have made this dish in the past3 months I thought I would add a comment to the recipe to tell you that this my FAVORITE thing ever from your cooking blog (along with the French Bread Rolls). I have to substitute Peas for the mushrooms since no one in our house likes mushrooms but it is unbelievably good!!!

I made this tonight and it was SO GOOD! I used chicken broth in place of the pasta water and added 1/2 of a sliced red onion in with the peppers and mushrooms. I also halved the recipe and still had a ton leftover, which is good because after two bites my husband asked if he could take it for lunch tomorrow. Next time we are going to try it with blackened chicken, and after reading the comments I’d love to try it with peas or asparagus as well. YUM!

Made this the other night for dinner and it was so easy and delicious. My somewhat picky 4 year old asked if we could have this every day! I was shocked. She doesn’t like peppers, so I didn’t tell her what the “red things” were and she ate them. It made a ton, too, and leftovers are never a bad thing in my house!

Oh my. This is AMAZING. This is my favorite pasta dish now. All of you mushroom haters are missing out because it’s the mushrooms that make this dish divine. I have made maybe 50 or more Mel recipes and while I can’t say it’s my favorite because there are so many that I love, I can say it’s in my top 10…maybe even top 5 and I really couldn’t pick a very favorite because there are so many perfect ones. I am going to buy 20 lbs of orzo because I am going to make this often. Thanks a million!

Yum yum! I love your recipes. I am sitting here finishing up my last helping. I ate way too much. It was delicious. The hubby and 16 month old loved it. My 4 year old doesn’t eat much of anything and wouldn’t even try a bite. More for me! I love love love mushrooms. It totally made the dish. Thank you!

Wonderful recipe! I added broccoli and fresh baby spinach. Also, to keep sauce like this from soaking into the noodles, I always keep it separate and just spoon the sauce over each dish. Thanks again for a great meal.

I made this for dinner last night and it was fantastic! The kids and husband all loved it and I have the slow cooker beef stroganoff in the crock pot today! Thanks for sharing all of your quick and easy recipes!

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I was a little worried that a 20 min recipe would be a bland attempt at a quick meal. {Sometimes I think blood, sweat, and tears is what it should take to prepare a tasty meal..} HOWEVER, oh.my.word. This was fabulous!!! Creamy goodness, I say!! We try not to eat a lot of pasta…so to have cream cheese AND pasta in the same recipe was almost lost on me. My 7 year olds asked me if I could make it tomorrow.. and the next day.. and the next day:):) It is added to my recipe book!! Oh, and I added up the calories and it’s only 300 calories per serving! It would make about 8 servings. Thank you, Mel!!

This was fabulous! Took me a bit longer than the 20 minutes, but certainly an easy enough meal for mid-week, after work. Definitely have leftovers, which is great. I’ve made quite a few of your recipes and thy have all been hits! Thanks Mel!

Thumbs down on this one. Any sauce w cream cheese a fail w our family!!! Probably a shortcut but tastes awful. Like many of your other posts but this one was a let down. Won’t keep trying you r recipes however!